The Dr Francisco Luis Gomes Garden at Campal-Panjim
looked vivid and vibrant on May 1, 2017. As the world
celebrated International Workers’ Day and May Day, Goa
honoured one of the greatest living legends in art, Vamona
Navelcar. The artist himself was present at the first ever
Great Goan Art Festival that brought together artists from
different places across Goa to a unique platform, an open
park. The festival had a simple aim, of uniting the artists of
Goa without any distinction between the professional and
the amateurs.
Known as an Artist of Three Continents, Vamona
was enthusiastic to meet and speak to the young artists,
including children. Marius Fernandes, who came up
with the concept of the festival, was delighted with the
response. “The children almost mobbed him when he
entered the park. They were waiting to see him. There
were nearly 40 Goan artists present at the festival; they
beautifully captured Panjim through their canvases. As a
teacher in Mozambique, Vamona used to teach children
art and meeting these children in Goa who were curious
about art was like a walk down memory lane for him. He
even signed their paintings,” says Marius.
The festival was an amalgamation of creative and
performing art. While artists, cartoonists and sculptors
were busy with their works, Carlos Gonsalves and his
musician friends starting playing music using the ghumott
and kott’tio (coconut shells). They were soon joined by Fr
Dominic Alvares and the daughters of Rosy Alvares, who
sang the song, ‘Goa, Goenkar ani Goenkarponn’. “Vamona
is not just a Goan artist. I was live streaming the event
on Facebook and I was getting feedback from people
in Africa and Portugal, calling him their artist, which is
overwhelming,” adds Marius.
The evening witnessed several personalities, including
Alexyz, Naguesh Sardessai, Suhas Shilker, Raj Bhandare,
Roland Martins and Nand Kumar Kamat, speak about
Vamona. During a discussion, it was decided that a square
in Goa would be christened Vamona Navelcar Square
and said area would be an open space for art, music and
theatre.
Vamona dazzled every member of the audience with
the intricate paintings that he completed in just seconds,
something that would take any other artist days. One of his
portraits was of Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa, which
he intends to present to the Prime Minister of Portugal,
Antonio Costa, on the 30th anniversary celebrations of
Casa de Goa, based in Lisbon. Interestingly, Vamona and
Orlando António Fernandes da Costa, a Portuguese writer
and the father of Antonio Costa, were friends in Lisbon.
To give a better idea about the life of Vamona and his
struggles, Ashley Fernandes and Ronak Kamat screened
a 30-minute film for the audience. Through the film,
those present at the festival got to see another side of this
humble 85-year-old artistic genius.
